One Shots

Letter From Heaven

Dear The Lady in the Pink Sunhat,

I'd been on the streets since I was thirteen. People really don't understand how hard the streets are, they don't get that my home really sucked, sucked enough that the streets didn't suck as much. I got work at first, I can't remember that much of it except that it involved carrying a lot of heavy stuff around. At least I wasn't in the gutter.

Life was decent enough to me back then. I wasn't hooked on anything, wasn't busy spending all that hard earned money on alcohol, or drugs. I was as fine as a fourteen year old without a home could be. And then I hurt my knee. Dropped something on it I think. I remember being rushed to the hospital, but there wasn't much they could do for whatever I'd done to my muscles.

Of course, I guess I kind of knew it was coming, when the big bloke who ran the company came up to me and told me I had to go. He was decent enough to look sad about it, but now I wonder if he really was. If it'd been genuine I think he might have helped me out a bit more. Then I truly was 'homeless'. No job, no home, running from the cops, cause they figured I was no good scum, and no one truly understood.

I somehow ended up on the corner of Dundas Street. I was nineteen, broke in the way that money is concerned, and broken where my soul was. I had the clothes on my back and little else. Sometimes I'd stop into a soup kitchen or something, but only when I was desperate. You had to be desperate to go to them places, cause you guaranteed walked out a little poorer than when you went in. I'll admit it I made a few fellows poorer, but thievery just kind happened, I ain't proud of it.

Anyway I remember the day pretty clearly. It was cold and honestly I think I was on the brink of death, when someone put 5 dollars at me feet. 5 dollars may not seem like much, but it was all I needed. It bought me a coffee at Tim Horton's and a warm spot at one of the tables. I only figured it out a little while back but the lady who gave me the 5 dollars was you. In those terms I guess you could say you saved my life. I didn't see you again 'till a couple years later... by then you were wearing your pink sunhat. I'll always remember you like that because you reminded me of my sister. She liked pink too. You always left me money. Whatever you had in your pocket I think. 25 cents to 20 dollars once. It saved my life a bit every time.

I died last winter as men left in the middle of a blizzard without a coat tend to do. I wanted to say thank you though, cause I wouldn't have lived that long without you. I most likely wouldn't have let myself. My name is Bryan by the way. I wish I got to learn yours. You seem like a nice kind of lady. It's okay if you don't remember me. Some of the local folks used to call me 'The Corner King' cause I had a yellow hat that kind of looked like a crown. I don't know if that rings a bell, but anyways...

Thanks.

-Bryan

'The Corner King'